Medical service: Emergency laparoscopic appendectomy and diagnostic tests, which showed Comfort had a rare subtype of cancer called goblet cell adenocarcinoma. His benefits - and the prices for procedures - are defined by the Swiss government. Comfort pays a monthly fee and deductible for Switzerland's mandatory basic health insurance, which he has with the Swiss-based Groupe Mutuel. The patient: Leslie "Jay" Comfort, 66, a retired educator who worked in Japan and Switzerland. "It was a miracle," Comfort said, adding that the cancer was completely removed. Doctors performed emergency surgery to remove the inflamed appendix.ĭiagnostic tests confirmed he had a rare cancer, which doctors in Switzerland later removed with another surgery after he returned home. Jay recalled the staff making copies of his insurance card and then treating his acute appendicitis. When the pain became unbearable, Comfort called his brother, who drove him and his wife, Nazuna, a few miles to the nearest emergency department, at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's hospital in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.Įvery bump of the drive was "like someone taking something and just jabbing it into my abdomen," he said.Īt the hospital, Nazuna Konishi Comfort handed over her husband's Swiss insurance card, which confirmed coverage by Groupe Mutuel. "I tried to gut it out for three hours because of the insurance situation," said Comfort, a retired teacher and American citizen who has Swiss insurance. But the week before the ceremony - on a Friday evening - Comfort said he found himself in "excruciating pain." Last June, Jay Comfort flew to the United States from his home in Switzerland to attend his only daughter's wedding. After emergency surgery, an American expatriate with Swiss insurance now carries the baggage of a five-figure bill.
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